Pedal-guard.



PATENTED APR. 3, 1906.

0. H. WOODALL. PEDAL GUARD. APPLIGATION fILED APR.29, 1905.

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Inventor Witnes Attorneys UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PEDAL-GUARD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 3, 1906.

Application file April 29, 1905. Serial No. 258,110.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES H. WOODALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Albany, in the county of Dougherty and State of Georgia, have invented a new and useful Pedal-Guard, of which the following is a specification.

In the manufacture of pianos it is customary to provide an opening in the front of the case below each pedal to permit of the required up-and-down movement thereof, and as this opening is entirely unobstructed when the pedal is in its normal elevated position mice and other vermin have access through this opening into the action and other parts of the piano, wherefore the object of the present invention is to rovide for maintaining this opening close in a simple and improved manner and to produce the closure in the nature of an attachment capable of being conveniently applied to the pedal Without alteration therein and without interfering with the usual manipulation thereof.

The invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described, shown in the accomp anying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the pedals of a piano with the closure attachment of the present invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken through one of the pedals and the front of the piano-case with one of the attachments of the present invention applied thereto. Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the closure with one form of attaching means. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the closure embodying a different form of attaching means. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the closure with a slightly-different form of attaching means. Fig. 7 is a plan view of the closure shown in Fig. 6.

Like characters of reference designate corresponding parts in each and every figure of the drawings.

To illustrate the application and operation of the present invention, the accompanying drawings have been prepared to show the front portion 1 of the case of an ordinary upright piano and the pedals 2, which workthrough the bottom portion of the front of the case in the usual manner, there being a face-plate 3 secured to the case and provided with openings 4 to accommodate the pedals, the outer ends of the pedals being normally elevated, as

usual, thereby leaving open spaces beneath the several pedals, which spaces are designed to be closed by the employment of the present invention.

The attachment of the present invention is preferably formed from a single blank of sheet metal and consists of a body 5, designed for application to the under side of the pedal and provided with an elongated springtongue 6, which extends outwardly from the outer end of the body to bear against the under side of the pedal. At the inner end of the body the blank is bent downwardly, as at 7, to form a shield of a size and shape to close the adjacent opening 4 when the pedal is in its normal elevated position. In the form of the attachment shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 the opposite side edges of the body are provided with upstanding spring-clips or ears 8, which are designed to clamp upon the opposite longitudinal edges of the pedal, as clearly indicated in Fig. 3 of the drawings, thereby to detachably connect the attachment with the pedal without alteration of the latter and without the employment of extraneous fastenings. The upper ends of the clips 8 of course terminate short of the top of the pedal, so as to avoid contact with the foot of the performer, and thereby to prevent accidental displacement of the device. The downward movement of the pedal from its upper limit is of course less than the distance between the lower edge of the shield or closure 7 and the floor in order that the closure may not come in contact with the latter during the depression of the pedal, as such contact would interfere with the proper manipulation of the pedal. It will here be explained that the inner end portion of the present attachment bears against the under side of the pedal, while the spring tongue 6 bears against the under side of the pedal adjacent the outer end thereof, and the spring-clips 8 bear against or embrace the side edges of the pedal, thereby obtaining four points of bearing which operate to retain the attachment upon the pedal in a simple and effective manner without danger of looseness thereof and at the same time permit of the attachment being removed without necessitating any dismantling of the pedal.

Another form of attaching means has been shown in Fig. 4, wherein the cli s 8 are in the nature of upstanding hooks w ch overhang the top of the body and of course are elastic to snap upon the opposite edges of the pedal and embrace the upper side thereof; otherwise this form of the device is precisely the same as that hereinbefore described.

In Fig. 5 another form of attaching means has been shown, said means consisting of a loop or strap 9 extending from one edge of the body upwardly and over the top thereof so as to embrace the pedal, the free extremity of the loop or strap being passed downwardly through a keeper 10 in the nature of a slotted integral ear projected outwardly from the opposite edge of the body. To apply this form of the device, the free end of the strap 9 is disengaged from the keeper 10 and passed over the top of the pedal and thence downwardly through the keeper 10, the tension of the strap being sufficient to retain the same in the keeper and prevent accidental displacement thereof, while at the same time the strap may be readily withdrawn from the keeper to permit detachment of the device.

Still another form of attaching means has been shown in Figs. 6 and 7 consisting of a strap 11 similar to the strap 9 and a keeper in the nature of a T-shaped slot 12 formed in the body and intersecting that edge thereof which is opposite the point of integral connection between the strap 11 and the body 5, the free extremity of the strap being bent upwardly, as at 13, to form a substantially U- shaped or hooked terminal capable of being engaged and disengaged edgewise with the slot 12 without bending the terminal 13.

From the foregoing description it will be understood-that each form of the present attachment consists of a single blank which is bent to produce a body capable of lying against the bottom of a pedal, one end of the body being extended and slightly bowed to form a spring-tongue to bear with a suitable degree of tension against the under side of the pedal, the other end of the body being bent downwardly to form an upright plate constituting a shield or closure for the pedalopening of the piano-case, and the opposite edges of the body being formed to embrace the pedal so as to detachably connect the guard thereto in a simple and eifective manner without requiring alteration therein and without requiring dismantling of the pedal to permit the attaching and detaching of the device.

Having fully described the invention, what is claimed is 1. A pedal-guard comprising a plate-metal body having one end formed into a longitudinally-disposed spring-tongue with its opposite end bent at substantially right angles thereto to form a shield, the opposite edges of the body adjacent the shield being provided with means for detachably embracing the pedal.

2. The combination with a piano-pedal, of a guard member applied to the under side of the pedal and provided at its outer end with a spring-tongue extending along and bearing against the under side of the pedal and at its inner end with a pendent shield covering the pedal-opening in the piano-case, said guard being provided with attaching means detachably embracing the pedal.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto aflixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES H. WOODALL.

Witnesses:

J. R. DE GRAFFENRIED, I. A. TARVEN. 

